Refrigerating apparatus



Oct. 27, 1936. L. A. PHILIPP REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed May 5, 19,52 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l W www MP Hw m E vR 6 V J J M WWW/47' ATTORNEY.

Oct. 27, 1936.

L. A. PHILIPP REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed May 3,

19:52 2 sheets-sheet 2 cre-z n INVENTOR. 0W/36H65 Pil/L IPP .BYMbMW ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 27, 1936 l A I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Lawrence A. Philipp, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Kelvinator Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application May 3, 1932, Serial No. 608,941

11 Claims. (Cl. 62-116) This invention relates generally to refrigerating Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus and more particularly to refrigerating a refrigerator cabinet with a refrigerating system apparatus of the household type.l and to arrange for the ready removal of the sy'sl-Ieretofore it has been customary when installtem as a unitary structure from the cabinet in ing refrigerating apparatus on or in refrigerating a new and improved manner. 5 cabinets to mount the refrigerant low side such as Another object of the invention isv to provide the cooling .coils or chamber within the food a refrigerator cabinet with a food storage co-mcompartment or'in a cooling chamber of the partment and a machinery compartment and .to cabinet and to mount the refrigerant high side provide a refrigerant cooling element in the'food l such as the compressor and condenser either compartment and a refrigerant condensing elel0 above the top wall or below the bottom wall of ment in the machinery compartment and yto arthe food compartment. Ordinarily it was difficult range for the ready removal of said elements to install the machine in the cabinet or to remove and machinery compartment as a unitary strucit therefrom under these conditions. Frequently ture from the cabin-et whereby the necessity of the space occupied was greatsince it was necesuncoupling the elements or removal of the cabinet l5 sary to allow not only the actual space required panels and the like is avoided. f by the cabinet and machine, but also suflicient Further objects and advantages of the present space for installing or removing the machine. In invention will be apparent from the following addition, such installations usually included boxdescription, reference being had to the accomlike covers or cages for the machine, and such panying drawings, wherein a preferred form of 20 enclosures were unsightly. When placed at the the present invention is clearly shown.

bottom of the cab-inet the machine occupied space Inthe drawings:

which might otherwise have been useful for cup- Fig. 1 is a vertical view in cross section of a board space or for receiving foods and from an refrigerator embodying features of my invention; efficiency standpoint was objectionable. Due to Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken in the 25 the location and arrangement of parts, the entire direction of the arrows 2-2 of Fig. 1;

machine could not be installed in or removed Fig. 3 is a top view in cross section, taken along `from the cabinetA without making or breaking the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 showing the arrangement pipe connections, with the consequent chances of of the refrigerating system within the cabinet;

gas and oil escaping or dirt and moisture enter- Fig. 4 is aside view in elevation ofthe refrig- 30 ing the system. This required skilled workmen. erating system removed from the cabinet; In fact such workmen had to leave the service Fig.:5 is a vertical sectional view of a modified station or factory to travel to and from installaform of refrigerating apparatus embodying feations and thereby consumed much time in just tures of fmy invention;

traveling. as truck drivers back and forth between Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken in the 35 jobs. Consequently such workmen were unable direction of the arrows 6-6 of Fig. 5; to devote their entire time to skilled work and Fig. 7 is a top view in cross section taken along were expensive to maintain. the line11 of Fig. 5; and

With the present invention, however, the high Fig. 8 is a view in elevation of the ref rigerating and low sides are arranged Side by side in wa system and machinery compartment -removed 40 common horizontal plane and may be readily ifrom the cabinet. stalled withinor removed from a cabinet adjacent Referring to the drawings and particularly vto the top thereof without uncoupling or breaking Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, numeral 20 indicates in genany refrigerant connections or disassembling any eral a cabinet having a metallic lining member of the parts so that (a) refrigerant and/or cil 2l formedl to provide the inner walls of a food 45 cannot escape from'the apparatus during instorage compartment 23 and preferably havstallation or,v removal; (b) unskilled labor such as ing a coating of vitrous enamel such as porceordinarytruckgdrivers may be used to make such lain. The cabinet includes insulated walls ininstallations or removals; and (c) skilled labor cluding top wall 24, rear wall 25, side walls 26, may remain in a central service station and devote bottom Wall 21 and front wall 28. An outer me- 50 its entire time to skilled service work. tallic casing 29 is provided for enclosing the in- Accordingly, one of the objects of my invensulated walls. The front wall 28'is provided with tion consists in a new and improved arrangement an opening 30 through which access to the comof a refrigerating system within a refrigerator partment 23 may be had, and a movable closurecabinet. f member or door 3l to close the opening. The 55 edges oi' the door opening are provided with nishing strips 22 which cover the edges of the inner lining 2| and the outer casing to provide e. neat appearing finish. A'n opening 32 is provided in the rear wall 25 of the cabinet.

A removable unitary structure is arranged within the confines of the inner lining member 2l near the top of the food storage compartment 23 and includes a refrigerant cooling element 35, an insulated machinery compartment 36, and a refrigerant condensing element. The machinery compartment is formed by a wall structure of some suitable insulating material such as cork board and is provided with an opening 31 which registers with the opening 3i. in the rear wall 25. The machinery compartment includes an upright wall 42, side walls t3 and a bottom wall M. The upright wall t2 extends across the width of the cabinet between the front and rear walls thereof, and the side walls 43 and the bottom Wall till extendto the rear wall 25 to seal the opening 32 therein from the food storage compartment 23. The inner walls of the machinery compartment may be formed by a suitable metallic lining t6 and the outer wall formed by a metallic lining t6 preferably having a coating of vitrous enamel such as porcelain corresponding to the surface finish of the inner lining 2l of the iood storage compartment.

It will be seen that the refrigerant condensing element and the refrigerant cooling element are arranged in substantially the same horizontal plane, the condensing element being arranged at the rear of the cabinet and the cooling element in alignmenttherewith adjacent the front of the cabinet. Thel cooling element may be mounted in the food compartment' on the upright wall t2 by any suitable means and is provided with a freezing zone it in which may be inserted trays t9 for freezing substances such as water, and an air cooling zone 56 for cooling circulating air within the food storage compartment.

The condensing element comprises in general a motor-compressor unit b2 which may be of any .suitable type preferably enclosed Within a hermetically sealed casing, and a condenser 5t. In the usual manner, gaseous refrigerant is Withdrawn from the cooling element or evaporator 35 through conduit 54 by the `compressor which compresses it and delivers the compressed gas through conduit 55 to the condenser 53 wherein it is liqueiled. The liquid refrigerant is then delivered to the evaporator through conduits 56 and 51 after iirstpassing through a high side iioat mechanism 58. Preferably the condenser is air cooled and for this purpose I have provided a fan 59 driven by a motor 60. This fan also circulates the air throughout the machinery compartment which air enters through the rear opening of the machinery compartment to remove heat generated therewithin.

In order that the refrigerating system heretofore described may be conveniently serviced, it is arranged to be slidably removable or insertable'as va unit through the'food compartmentl door. To vaccomplish this, I provide in this instance a plate 6I suitably secured to the top edges of the upright wall 42 and the side walls 43 of the machinery compartment. Offset portions are formed in the inner lining- 22 of the side walls, adjacent the top of the cabinet, providing slideways 62 on which the plate 6I and the depending refrigerating system are slidably mounted. It will be seen that the plate 6| forms the top Wall of the machinery compartment 36 and extends from the upright wall ft2 to the rear Wall 25 of the cabinet. Gaskets 63 may be provided between the slideways 62 and the plate 6I to insure a complete seal between the machinery compartment and the food compartment, and as shown may be carried by the plate 6l.

As heretofore mentioned, the machinery compartment is open at the rear and in communication with the outer atmosphere through the opening 32 in the rear wall 25 of the cabinet. To insure a complete seal between the food storage compartment 23 and the insulated machinery compartment 36, gaskets 64 of any suitable material such as rubber are provided. As shown these gaskets may be carried by the rear edges of the plate 6I, the side walls 43 and the bottom walls IM. When the referigerating system is mounted in operative position in the cabinet, the gaskets 6d provide a tight fit between the rear Wall 25 and the food storage compartment.

To prevent marring the enamel iinish of the cabinet when installing or removing the refrigerating system, the top edges of the front Wall i2 of the machinery compartment d3 are provided with breaker strip 65 of some suitable non-heat conducting material such as rubber which also serves to prevent the conduction oi heat from the machinery compartment to the food storage compartment. To remove the refrigerating system from the cabinet the finishing strips 22 about the top and sides of the door opening are first removed and the system may then be slid forward through the food compartment door opening. If desired, the oii'set portions 62 may be positioned slightly lower in the food storage compartment so as to permit the removal of the unitary structure without removing the top finishing strip 3U.

In Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the drawings is shown another form of the invention in which the refrigerating system is also removable as a unit throughthe food compartment door. A refrigerator cabinet indicated in general at 18 is constructed of insulated walls including top wall 1l, side Walls l2, rear wall 13, bottom wall 14, and front wall 16 providing a food storage compartment 16. An outer metallic casing 11 is provided for enclosing the insulated Walls. The front wall 15 is provided with an opening 18 leading to the food storage compartment and a movable closure member 19 is provided for closing the opening. The rear wall 13 is provided'in this instance with two openings 80 and iii.

A unitary removable structure is arranged within the cabinet near the top thereof and comprises in general an insulated machinery compartment 82, a condensing element and a cooling element or evaporator 84. The insulated machinery compartment 82 is formed by a wall structure of some suitable insulating material such as cork board and comprises an upright wall 35 which extends across the width of the cabinet between the front and rear walls thereof and a bottom wall 86 which extends to the rear wall 13. As shown, the insulated machinery compartment 82 is open to the outer atmosphere through openings 80 and 8| in the rear wall o1' the cabinet. Mounted Within the insulated machinery compartment is the condensing mechanism which includes in general a motor-compressor unit 61, a condenser 88 and a fan 89 for cooling the condenser. and for circulating the air within the compartment. It will be seen that in this instance the motor-compressor unit, condenser and fan are arranged in a different relation than those shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the drawings, such -that the fan may draw air in through the opening 80 and circulate it over the condenser and the motor-compressor unit and out the openingl. The cooling element or evaporator 84 is suitably mounted on the upright wall 85 and comprises in this instance an upright portion 90 and a horizontal portion 9| which cooperate with the wallsvof the cabinet to form a freezing zone above and a cooling zone below. The cooling element or evaporator is operably connected with the condensing element by means of conduits 94 and 95 which extend through the upright wall 85 of the insulated machinery compartment.

The inner walls of the insulated compartment 82 may be formed by a suitable metallic lining 96 and the outer walls are provided with a metallicv lining 91 exposed to the interior of thel cabinet and preferably having a coating of porcelain or other suitable vitrous enamel. The linings 96 and 91 also serve to'provide an inner lining for the upper portion of the cabinet, and in this instance are adapted to be removable with the refrigerating system. The lower portion of the cabinet is provided with a lining member 69 which may be iixed in the cabinet. The edges forming the door opening 18 are provided with finishing strips 98 secured to the Walls of the `cabinet by some suitable means such as screws and serve to cover the terminating edges of the .outer casing 10 and the inner linings 96 and 91 partrnent and may be carried by and secured to the flanges |00. Thus the refrigerating system is slidably supported on the anges 99 and |00 and may be removed through the door opening 18 by first removing the lfinishing strips 98 and sliding the entire system including the linings 96 and 91 through the opening thereof.

Although only va preferred form of the invention has been illustrated, and that form described in detail, it will be apparent tothose skilled in the art that various modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the sc ope of the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having a compartment, an lupright insulated wall extending across at least a portion 4of the width of said compartment and between the front and rear of the cabinet, a refrigerant condensing element 4on one side of said upright 'wall and a plate type refrigerant cooling element on the other side thereof and cooperating at least substantially across the widthof said v first named compartment and between the front and rear of the cabinet, a refrigerant condensing element within said insulated compartment and a plate type refrigerant cooling element cooperating with said upright wall and other walls of the first named compartment for dividing said first named compartment into a freezing zone and a cooling zone.

3. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination a cabinet having a compartment, an insulated compartment Within the'rst named compartment and including an upright wall extending at least substantially across the width of said first namedcompartment and between the front and rear of the cabinet, a refrigerant condensing element within said insulated compartment and an L shaped plate type refrigerant cooling element having an upright portion adjacent the upright insulated wall and a horizontal portion extending toward the front of the cabinet, said cooling element cooperating with walls of the cabinet for dividing the first named compartment into a freezing zone and a cooling zone.

4. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination a cabinet having inner lining material, a guideway formed by said lining material, slidable means cooperating with said guideway, and a unitary structure including refrigerant condensing and cooling elements operatively assocated with one another with the cooling element arranged in advance of the condensing element and carried by said slidable means adjacent the upper interior of the cabinet.

5. Refrlgerating apparatus comprising, in combination, a cabinet having an upright wall, a refrigerant evaporating element including a vertical portion carried by said upright wall, and a horizontal portion associated with the lower part of said vertical portion and extending forwardly to the front part of said cabinet, said horizontal portion cooperating with walls of the cabinet for dividing the interior of said cabinet into a freezing compartment and a food storage compartment, said cabinet having an opening in a wall thereof through which access to said compartment may be had, and closure means for said opening.

6. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, in combination, a cabinet,` an integral inner metallic lining member disposed in said cabinet andl being arranged to form the Wallsofa food storing in the front part and an opening in the upper rear part, a unitary refrigerating apparatus slidably supported by said guideways adjacent the top wall of said compartment, said unitary apparatus including an insulated Wall structure having an, opening registering with the opening in the rear part of said lining member, a refrigerant lcondensing element disposed on one side of said insulated wall structure, a refrigerant cooling element disposed on the opposite side of said wall structure in advance of the condensing element and in said vfood storage compartment, said unitary apparatus being arranged to be slid from said compartment through the opening in the frontI part of the lining member, and closure means for said latter opening.

'7. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, in combination, a cabinet having an upright wall, a refrigerant evaporating element including a horizontally disposed portion associated with said upright wall and extendingiorwardly toward the front part of the cabinet, said horizontally disposed portion. cooperating with walls of the cabinet for dividing the interior of the cabinet into a, freezing compartment and a food storage compartment, said cabinet having opening means in a Wall thereof throughv which access to said compartments may be had, and closure means for said opening means.

8. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, in combination, a cabinet having an upright Wall, a refrigerant evaporating element including a vertical portion associated with said upright Wall, and a horizontal portion associated with said vertical portion and extending forwardly toward the front part of said cabinet, said horizontal portion cooperating with Walls of the cabinet for dividing the interior of said cabinet into a freezing compartment and a food storage compartment, said cabinet having opening means in a wall thereof through which access to said compartments may be had, and closure means for said opening means.

9. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a heat insulating cabinet, an inner lining of sheet metal in said cabinet and having guideways formed therein, and a refrigerating unit including a motor compressor condenser evaporator unit slidably disposed on said guide- Ways, said cabinet having an opening associated with said motor compressor condenser.

10. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, in combination, a cabinet having an opening in an upright Wall thereof, a wall having an opening, movable closure means for said opening, a refrigerant condensing element located on one side of said closure means, a refrigerant evaporator comprising an imperforated Wall structure located on the opposite side of said closure means and being positioned in said cabinet in such a manner as to cooperate with inner walls thereof to divide the interior of the cabinet into a food storage compartment and a low temperature compartment, said condensing element, movable closure means and evaporator being removable bodily as a unit from said cabinet through said opening in said upright Wall thereof.

11. In a refrigerator, the combination of heat insulating walls dening a heat insulated enclosure, a removable portion included in one of said heat insulating Walls, a refrigerant evaporator comprising a flat partition like member, means on said removable portion for supporting said evaporator cooperatively adjacent said heat insulating walls to divide the enclosed space into compartments, a refrigerant compressor, conduit means for operatively interconnecting the compressor and evaporator, and means for se-.

curing said lcompressor to the opposite side of said removable Wall portion.

LAWRENCE A. PHILIPP. 

